Tonight I have spent about 6 hours being online and reassuring people that they are seen, heard, and not alone. And the night is far from over.

Tonight I have watched my great country fall to such crazed and depraved depths that many of would have sworn we were incapable of reaching. My inbox, text messages, and pms fill with They are coming for us now, I don’t know if I can live, What do we do now? What CAN we do now?

I am flagging as friends and family from overseas wake to what we have wrought and exclaim in horror at the news of a Trump presidency, Republican senate and house. My feed fills with How? Why? What will I tell my children?

Still I let my fingers tap and tell the needed words. Still I hold my hands as weapons against despair and heartbreak. I will hold vigil for my small piece of the world and allay fears as best I can, hold rage for myself and others, and maintain a safe space for people who are so strong to be in some small way held if only metaphorically.

I wrote this to a friend this evening:

Hey, I’ve been fighting for decades and I will tell you it changed so much.Don’t ask don’t tell, repealing that, gay rights, black president, end of the cold war, 9/11, Berlin wall. We start by not compromising ourselves and standing tall. Tomorrow. Tonight we rage. I am here. I see you. I fought for you before you were even born and I will fight for you now.

Later on I had this to say to another friend:

Talk your voice.

We sing down oppression

We shout down hatred

We have no room for guilt.

We only have room for love and connection.

Tonight you breathe
Tomorrow you grieve
The next day you stand.
Then we discuss the fight.
But tonight you breathe
As a bisexual poly activist of Jewish decent I know this fear
I will not let them come for you.

In Ireland they have what some perceive as a saying, but it is a literal truth. They say people walk into the sea. They do this, a solemn way to end one’s life, and it is done often enough that it is a part of the language. Tonight I am tapping and talking, and keeping the sea from whispering abyssal dreams to those that I can. I am doing this not just out of love but need.

I need you to stay. I need you to stand. I need you to fight with me.

I could have stayed away, overseas. I came back. I came back to a target rich environment of injustice, complacency, and despondence.

Auntie is home and she is taking her earrings off.

As an artist I will fight for a better country than we have voted in for ourselves. I will labor for reform and resist the dismantling of the Obama administration. I will engage fully as a citizen. I will continue to lobby for good reform and policies and rage against bad legislation and bad government.

We cannot be internet warriors anymore. We must take to the streets and we must take to our local governments. We cannot give in to biased news media and click bait journalism. We need more active participation in our government not less. We need it all term not just for elections. We need to stand up for measures and policies and change for ourselves.

WE ARE THE CANDIDATE.

53 million of us can be a powerful voice.

I’ll start.

Hi, my name is Coral Mallow.

I’m not backing down.

Who’s with me?

Comments

I stand with my beautiful friends for an America where all can grown and flourish regardless of gender, race, sexual preference, or religion. Where all people are cherished and can live without fear. We will stand and we will draw on the strength of love and true freedom to realise a nation that recognises the greatness of all its people and respects the earth upon which it stands.

The two major world powers have voted in favor of intolerance and xenophobia. I desperately hope that you can keep your fight going, and that the rest of the world can pick up the slack.

My word for the day is spunktrumpeting shitgoblin (Don’t care how long it is, that’s my word). I have a feeling I’ll be using it a lot today at work while I explain to people that they don’t get to judge America, having just voted for Brexit, since trump is the walking, toupe wearing, version of the same.

I will be thinking of happier times upon the Green Isles with you and Kate.